Body double [DVD]

Brian De Palma’s “Body double” - like most of his body of work - are genre exercises which borrow and pay homage to the films of Alfred Hitchcock. The Hitchcock template for this film is “Rear window” and “Vertigo”, perversely reworked into a lurid, violent thriller which proudly wears all it’s sleazy excesses on its sleeve. Craig Wassen plays Jake, a down on his luck actor who has just been fired from a shlock Z-grade vampire film due to his claustrophobia, a problem considering he spends several scenes inside a coffin. Dumped by his girlfriend and evicted from his flat, Jake finds himself homeless until a fellow actor (Gregg Henry) suggests he temporarily house-sit a rich record producer’s house. One of the perks of house-sitting he soon discovers is the sexy neighbour (Deborah Shelton) across the road who loves to undress in front of her window. Soon Jake finds himself obsessively spying on his mysterious neighbour as he inadvertently becomes embroiled in a nasty murder plot. Cast includes Melanie Griffith, Guy Boyd, Dennis Franz.